You're probably woken up by the explosion first. A loud, deafening boom comes from behind the walls of the residential district. When you look outside your window towards the darker, more secretive area of the city, you might see the structure around it... crumbling, the land falling in on itself slowly but surely. That might be what wakes you up first. If it doesn't, you may be awoken instead by the sudden jerking feeling behind your navel pulling you from where you are to somewhere... else.
It's dark. The first thing you notice is that it's dark -- and then come the scrabbling sounds of creatures in the dark, like metal being dragged across metal, a chilling, sharp sound. The first thing that becomes clear, as your vision adjusts, is that you're on a rickety pathway, metal and rusting and frail, above what appears to be yawning blackness. Far, far below, there's the faint sound of rushing water, a ways away.
The second thing that becomes clear is that you are very much not alone. Something is out there with you, and from the screeching metallic noises that come ever closer, it seems to be stalking you.
Thankfully, you're not alone -- right?  ...
...........
................
:)
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PHASE I [ ??? ] It’s drafty here. You’re below ground, that’s for certain from the echoes of the wind in the darkness. If you continue on forwards along the rickety, metal railing that serves as a walkway, the skittering noises of creatures in the dark follow -- but they don’t appear.
It seems everyone has been dumped along this pathway at random; you may be with friends, with enemies or with someone you’ve never met before, but either way, it soon becomes clear. There are only two ways to go along this path: up or down.
If you choose to take the path that follows a gradual slope down, the sounds of water lapping against a surface increase bit by bit, the air growing heavier and danker, until finally, the metallic platform gives way very suddenly (watch your step!) to a muddy bank. Down here, everything is darker, and not far away there’s the water. It’s cold and frigid and there are unfriendly creatures that await if you choose to delve into it. However, if you brave those creatures, and dive deeply enough, there is a mask. It rests half-buried by silt and rocks, but it’s there, and can be found by any intrepid explorers.
Somehow, it feels a little familiar.
And if you carry on in the cave system underground, eventually you will come across what appears to be an altar. There is blood on it -- not fresh, but not more than a month old -- and pieces of trinkets. Old bits of cloth, locks of hair, and some of them may even be familiar. Any dropped character who has a reasonably large amount of spiritual or magical power may have left scraps, such as pieces of clothing, trinkets, hair, or the sort behind at the altar.
Maybe that's why they weren't in the Nexus Code.
PHASE II [ ??? ] If you go up, you will eventually make your way above ground. It takes some time, and some luck -- you’ll have to avoid rusty railing and pathways, the path crumbling under you and that creeping sensation that something is following and watching you -- and then you’ll suddenly be in fresh air.
Well. It’s not so fresh, really.
The landscape is broken down and crumbled. It may have once been part of the city of Cerealia, but now it is in utter disrepair and decay. Buildings have crumbled, and debris is everywhere. There are signs of the same level of technology that Cerealia has -- but it is all broken down and utterly inaccessible.
And you’re not alone.
It seems the technology and metal and broken down destruction has gained sentience over its time sitting alone, waiting. And it is not happy to be disturbed. The creatures are made of pieces of everything around them, and when cut down, they’ll just slowly rebuild themselves from the debris.
It might be time to run.
They aren't happy about being disturbed, and you're in their way.
PHASE III [ ??? ] Above ground, there are a lot of broken down buildings.
Some can’t be accessed at all; some are too broken, too reduced to rubble. For those looking for shelter, they'll be able to find buildings where the doors can be forced open and they can camp out on the inside to various degrees of stability. Though the ceiling may cave in or the floor fall out from under you at a moment's notice, it's better than being out there. Be careful, because none of the architecture here can be trusted anymore.
And other buildings... are even less trustworthy than that.
There is a series of buildings in the midst of the wasteland, somehow still standing. They stand there silently, towering over the rest of the rubble in their two-story glory, and if the doors are forced open, it soon becomes clear that the building itself is full of mirrors.
Once, the mirrors had perhaps covered the walls and ceiling. Once, this building might have been akin to something of a ballet studio, somewhere to express yourself creatively. But now the mirrors are shattered and broken into pieces and the building lacks the joy it might have once held. Shards of mirror cover the floor, some big, some not so big, but they still hang from the walls as well and everywhere you look, you can see yourself.
And then, the reflection changes. From one blink to the next, you see a memory playing in the mirrors. Your memory. You’ll see a glimpse of one of your most traumatic or life-changing moments, broken up but clear in the shards. Blink and look away, and it’s gone, only to show up again in the next mirror a few moments later. Surely it’s just a trick of the light, right?
Except if someone else is with you, they’ll see it too -- and you might end up seeing a bit of their own past as well. Hope you're fond of sharing.
PHASE IV [ ??? ] If you survive the monsters, the crumbling landscape and the untrustworthy buildings, you may eventually find a terminal. It is buried deep among the rubble. One turn around a corner, one stumble into a hole, and you will find it. It sits there, out in the middle of nowhere; the building in which it used to be housed is apparently long gone, reduced to nothing but rubble.
And if you turn it on, there is a brief message.
Transmission Broadcasting.
Transmission Connected.
And then, there is a face.
BONUS [ ??? ] For those who have been wearing their masks a little too much, they might also start to notice that there are some strange effects attached, which worsen the more they’ve been wearing said masks. How badly they worsen is up to your discretion.
➝ Broken Mask: An intense feeling of paranoia, focused on whoever your character is with. They might also begin to remember fabricated memories of being betrayed by those people.
➝ Barcode Mask: Everything will begin to have value to them. There will be whispers in the back of their mind of the worth of their friends, the worth of a monster, the worth of everything around them. An intense need to own and consume as much as possible and as quickly as possible.
➝ Dripping Blood Mask: An intense lack of self-worth, a hollow feeling and thoughts of being weak and empty. Feeling as disposable as possible and an intense listless along with it.
➝ :( Mask: A need to prove yourself, to show everyone how strong you are as quickly as possible. You can do things, you can be of worth to everyone around you. Why won't they see that? Why?
➝ Ivy Mask: A choking sort of terror from all things metal and technology based, and a need to lash out against it. An intense distrust for anything that they feel is against the laws of nature.
➝ Grey Mask: More personable than normal, more emotional, more empathetic. An intense feeling of kindness and gratitude to those around you and a renewed love of life.
➝ Feather Mask: A dulled, lack of emotion. A detached feeling to everything around you. A sort of bland curiosity towards things without any empathetic reaction.
➝ Bloody Fingerprints Mask: They'll feel absolutely fine. No change.
The effects of the broken mask can stack on top of the others, if they chose to break their mask after the other effects began to appear. No other effects can be stacked, as no other changes can be stacked.
PENALTY [ ??? ] For characters who die while in the dark parts of the city, things will get... a little strange. They will die as normal, but they will wake up almost immediately after their death -- in the Nexus Code. They will have a few surreal moments to be there, to see their friends who have left Cerealia hanging lifelessly from odd, glimmering strands (though there are some faces, of course, that are missing, anyone who was spiritual, or magical, seems strangely absent) and then --
They’re back to being dead.
When characters revive in Cerealia, anywhere from one IC day to three or four IC days later, they will find that things are… not quite right with their code. They’re glitching, for a lack of a better word. Sometimes, their fingers will phase right through an object, their own limbs registering as cold and lifeless. Sometimes, they will see a face watching them -- but when they turn around to try to see who it is, the face will be gone.
These effects will last an IC week, before slowly things go back to normal.
That was strange.
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
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iii.
fire, tadashi. she knew he was dead, but this was how. she'd packed away her "shits to give" in an attempt to not be affected by her own memory shown to her; seeing tadashi like this was one way to get some of them slipping out of the box.
just a small moment of hesitation, and as the memory dies she's smashing her sword on the mirror on the floor. just as she meant to in the beginning.
and at the end of that shattering, without turning around (she knows he's there): ]
Don't stay in here.
[ milla sounds sorry, but also exhausted; the reason she's not snapping at him is because he's tadashi. she's dead too, but what the heck is she supposed to tell him? she wasn't supposed to see that. she doesn't want him to see anything she has to offer, either. ]
no subject
You don't have to tell me twice.
[ man, all he wanted was to help people out, and now this. the memory is so alive in his head every single day. he doesn't need to have it played right now???? thanks, ceres!! or whoever is doing this. it's just RUDE.
he takes a deep breath before he finally looks at milla. though her back might be turned on him, he talks to her, anyway.
could you pretend you saw nothing? he'd like to tell her that, but... somehow, he wanted her to know, anyway. anybody who knows what happened to him should know the full story. it. it could help him get over it. ]
What did you see?
no subject
she's quiet. ]
Something surprising and unsurprising. Of course you would, looking for someone in a place like that—
[ die trying to save someone? do-gooder central!
speaking of that other thing, however, her reflection shifts again in those pieces of pieces of mirrors now. again, there's a graceful looking woman with long silver hair, almost blue, and wings. milla stands in front of her, a yell on her lips ("I'm not just any human, I'm your sister—") and
on this side she's stiffening again, cutting herself off to snap at him this time, like she'd done in the memory: ]
If I don't have to tell you again, hurry up and leave!
no subject
it's not everyday he feels terrified. ]
Milla, [ --but he doesn't have to show he's scared. especially with his one. ] I'm not leaving until I figure out what's going on.
[ "even if it means seeing your memories." ]
no subject
"you made me do this", and the memory dies.
she smashes the mirror again. she can hear that this is affecting him, and of course it should. it's his death. she finds it pathetic that this is still affecting her, on top of his memory affecting her. it's done.
there's a small silence before she offers him a quiet: ]
... Of course you're not.
[ she thinks that maybe it's okay if it's him. it's fair if it's him, since she saw what she did, and she doesn't think he'd judge her for what she did.
but still. she continues, subdued still. ]
Sorry. [ for yelling. for you dying. that you have to see yourself die, again, and all of this is— ] I should've closed my eyes.
[ yeah. that. ]
no subject
"i'm your sister"... god, that must have been painful. not just for muzét, but for milla as well. he can't judge her, though, because he doesn't even know why it had to come to that. as much as he dislikes what just happened, he has to throw away his opinion because they don't matter. ]
I should have done the same.
[ it's only fair, isn't it? ]
I didn't know— I can barely move.
no subject
[ her voice seems to be stuck in her throat, and she sighs then. he hadn't asked her anything about that, and it's both comforting and worrying. was it disappointing? even if his memory had been unfair, it had also been very tadashi—dying while trying to save someone else?
it takes some energy, but she drives herself to turn and see him now. and she shouldn't, but she looks above him, too—as if expecting to see that metal bar. ]
—I don't blame you. It's understandable. [ ugh. she hates this place. she hates it so much. ] And I saw yours, so it's... fine. Are you...
[ all right, she means to ask, but that question's a formality. how could he be? ]
no subject
it's a pity. tadashi's been slowly improving with regards to his mental state. he was slowly getting over his death and has been feeling whole again. he was slowly letting himself be happy again.
but after cutting ties with ami for hiro's sake, and then seeing all of this? his progress is definitely becoming progressively worse.]
We should get out of here.
[ what's more, being honest with his feelings is something he can't do again. there's just no point. he's dead, so how and what he feels shouldn't matter to anybody. even if milla is also dead. ]
Together.
no subject
tadashi definitely shouldn't. ]
Together, huh.
[ she repeats. it was always easier with him; the one who told her she made the right choice even when he hardly knew her, and it was okay to hear from him because he knew. this stupid state of being dead but not dead. and again, it's unfair.
something in her expression shifts, and she looks as if she wants to say something. her lips press together. she shouldn't, but she's also the type to not stand by when something's so obviously wrong, so--
she thinks of sousei, who didn't have to speak, but he did. ]
You're alive right now, Tadashi. Don't forget that. [ and when she says that, she tries to convince herself too. she's alive right now.
she moves a little closer. ]
no subject
though of course, tadashi's train of thought is... different. he's definitely grateful for milla's show of kindness, but it's still very regretful. he's alive, but the person he tried saving isn't. he failed, and he was given his life back.
it's just so unfair.
he clenches his fists in frustration and punches one of the mirrors on the wall. he says nothing, and does nothing after that but grunts. ugh... ]
Okay. That was actually kind of fun.
[ this is clearly the best way to get rid of an awkward situation. ]
no subject
yeah, she doesn't disagree. there's nothing accomplished from breaking things, but there's some catharsis in the action. she watches him silently, her brow slightly furrowed, before speaking again. ]
... And a good way of hurting your hand. [ no milla, you idiot, say something useful— ] If you need my sword, I'll give it to you.
[ what else can she offer? ]
no subject
[ he shows milla his bloodied fist. ah, battle scars. ]
It feels better this way.
[ he then taps the folded staff behind his back to show milla. ]
I've got a weapon here. If I need it, I'll bring it out.
no subject
he talks about his weapon, but her focus isn't on that. it's on his blood, his eyes, his actions that are unlike what she's seen from him usually.
she continues to observe him silently. then: ]
What are you thinking?
[ that's what milla asks him, carefully. ]
no subject
Stress relief, that's all.
Should we now?